Aluminum ion perturbs the activity of a number of physiologically important enzymes, including members of a family of guanine nucleotide-binding proteins (G-proteins). G-proteins couple cellular receptor proteins to a variety of effector enzymes (including adenylate cyclase, phospholipase C, and the rod photoreceptor phosphodiesterase). We show herein that subnanomolar concentrations of free aluminum ion, produced in a carefully defined and kinetically stable manner through the buffering of total aluminum at 0.1-1.0 mM with calculated ratios of chelating agents, inhibit both the receptor-mediated activation and the self-inactivating GTPase activity of the rod photoreceptor G-protein, Gv. In the presence of 4 X 10(-10) M free aluminum ion, GTPase activity is inhibited from about 25-60% as the magnesium ion concentration is reduced from 10(-3) to about 5 X 10(-5) M. The principal effect of aluminum ion upon Gv is to inhibit receptor catalyzed nucleotide exchange. Binding of the GTP analog 5'-guanylyl imidodiphosphate can be reduced by as much as 90% by aluminum ion following subsaturating rhodopsin stimulation. Aluminum ion can produce either competitive or mixed noncompetitive inhibition of rhodopsin-catalyzed Gv activation and GTPase activity, as a function of whether Gv undergoes single (competitive), or multiple (mixed noncompetitive) nucleotide exchanges. The rod photoreceptor phosphodiesterase is only slightly inhibited by similar aluminum ion activities. Light- and Gv-coupled phosphodiesterase activation exhibits both a lower maximum rate of cyclic guanosine monophosphate hydrolysis and a slower inactivation in the presence of aluminum ion activities from about 10(-12) - 10(-10) M. These data suggest that intracellular free aluminum ion concentrations in the subnanomolar range could markedly affect the ability of cells to transduce extracellular signals. Interestingly, the combination of Al3+ and F- to produce the fluoro-aluminate species (AlFx) also inhibits the GTPase of G-proteins, although the mechanism of inhibition (e.g. binding to the G-protein.Mg2+.GDP complex) is totally distinct from that observed for free Al3+ and the overall effect on signal transduction (e.g. enhanced signal amplification) is in complete opposition to that observed for free Al3+.